MIAMI (Ticker) -- The Miami Heat have shown improvement over the
last three weeks, but they still cannot beat the lowly Atlanta
Hawks.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim collected 34 points and 11 rebounds as the
Hawks held on for a 76-73 victory to improve to 3-0 against the
Heat this season.

Atlanta posted its second straight win, but has just three
victories in its last 15 contests. Against the rest of the NBA,
the Hawks are just 13-32.

"The first two times, they (Miami) didn't have their roster
together and we were a little healthier," Atlanta coach Lon
Kruger said. "This time was real satisfying because they have
been playing so well and we really haven't been."

Atlanta overcame 38 percent shooting to snap a nine-game road
losing streak against the Heat, winning in Miami for the first
time since April 21, 1996

"This loss hurts," Miami guard Rod Strickland admitted.
"Tonight was a game that we were expecting to win and we just
didn't get the job done tonight. But we have to bounce back and
get ready for the next game. We got off to a sluggish start,
but that is no excuse."

Miami sliced an eight-point deficit to 74-73 when Jimmy Jackson
followed Eddie House's airball from beyond the arc with 4.6
seconds left.

But the Hawks inbounded in the backcourt to Hanno Mottola, who
dribbled all but the final second off the clock before getting
fouled. He made both free throws to give Atlanta a three-point
cushion.

LaPhonso Ellis missed an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer for
the Heat, who suffered a critical home loss in their attempt to
climb back into the Eastern Conference playoff race.

With New York losing to the Los Angeles Clippers, Miami missed a
chance to climb out of last place in the Atlantic Division.

"I think tonight we took a step back," Miami guard Eddie Jones
said. "We have to understand where we started and where we want
to go. We needed to win this game and go into the (All-Star)
break feeling good about ourselves. We didn't do a lot of
things right tonight."

Jones and Strickland scored 16 points apiece for the Heat, who
had won 10 of their previous 12 games. However, Miami has
dropped 16 games to sub-.500 teams this season.

"I thought we were as bad offensively as we've been in a while,
and going down the stretch we just couldn't make the plays we
had to make," Miami coach Pat Riley said. "We had half a dozen
shots that would have made the difference."

Miami made just 1-of-13 from beyond the arc and got to the line
just 16 times, making 12. Atlanta converted 23-of-29 free
throws.

"The discrepency of free throws was too much to overcome," Riley
said. "Both teams were very, very physical. We got 38 points
in the paint and 12 free throws. We never could get a foothold
on the game. They never let us."

Atlanta opened its biggest lead, 66-58, on Abdur-Rahim's jumper
with 7:05 remaining. He made 12-of-24 shots from the field and
10-of-11 from the line.

Adbur-Rahim scored 22 of Atlanta's 39 points in the first half,
helping the Hawks grabbed a two-point lead at intermission.

"This was really a team effort -- the defense that Ira (Newble)
gave us, the minutes Hanno gave us," Abdur-Rahim said. "It was
not about what I scored. That was my part. That is what the
team depends on me to do and I tried to come through tonight."

The offenses continued to struggle in the third quarter, with
Miami outscoring Atlanta, 15-14. The Hawks finally grabbed
control early in the final period.

Jason Terry, who scored 16 points for Atlanta, felt the key to
the contest was standing up to the Heat early.

"They pride themselves on being a tough team, a physical team,"
Terry said. "Our thinking was we're not going to stand there and
take the punch. We'll get the first punch. That's what we
tried to do -- match their intensity and bring it up to a higher
level."